Combined closure and spout for a fluid dispensing receptacle



Jan. 24, 1961 2,969,167

COMBINED CLOSURE AND SPOUT FOR A FLUID DISPENSING RECEPTACLE s. M. LlBlT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 17, 1957 IN VENT OR. Sidney/VI. Lzbzz? flziomey Jan. 24, 1961 s. M. LlBlT 2,969,167

COMBINED CLOSURE AND SPOUT FOR A FLUID DISPENSING RECEPTACLE Filed April 17, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ila,

INVENTOR.

fiidneyM. Libii BY a? COMBINED CLOSURE AND SPOUT FOR A FLUID DISPENSING RECEPTACLE Sidney M. Libit, 404 WoodlawnAve, Glencoe, Iii.

Filed Apr. 17, 1957, Ser. No. 653,309

7 Claims. '(Cl."222-512) This invention relates toa combined dispensing spout and valve for a'receptacle for fiuentmaterial. 'In particular it has reference to a two-part device comprising a fixed part for incorporation with the receptacle and a movable part including a dispensing opening which is digitally shiftable between on and ofi positions whereby flow of the material may be initiated and interrupted.

With the advent of those relatively rigid, yet deformable, plastic compositions such as polyethylene it is now possible to fabricate two part structures serving as a valve to initiate'and terminate flow of liquid from a receptacle,

sometimes including a nozzle, and to achieve fluid tight- *ness between thepa'rts without the use of seals orgaskets. My invention constitutes improvements 'in devices of: this general class.

The principal object of the invention resides in pro-' viding a deviceof the character aforesaid which" may be easily and reliable operated by the fingers between on and oil positions.

Another object is to providea device'of thecharacter mentioned which is extremely compact, as compared to present forms of such devices, thereby to utilize a substantially "smaller quantity of raw material.

, 'Stillanother object is' to "provide a moldeddevice which is readily adaptable for dispensing liquids of low'as well as comparatively high viscosity with only 'minor' alterations in the molds.

A further object is to provide a device which'is'so constituted as to be self-sealing by suitably utilizing the in- "herent elasticityofithe material in a novel manner.

An additional object resides in the provision of a device as aforesaid in which the movable part is shifted translationally between on and oil positions and wherein means are providedto inhibitinad-vertent disdodgment of the part in the event the user applies shifting force in a direction at right angles to the properdirection.

Other objects and advantages of the invention'will be- --come apparent from the ensuingdescription which, taken with the accompanying drawings, discloses certain forms which the invention may assume'in practice.

In these drawings: Fig. 1 is a-plan view of a device in accordance with -my invention, in closed condition:

'Fig. 9* is aside elevation of an'alternative former the device in closed condition;

nited States Pfl-t 'nt for on and 01f. includes means for realizing an efiicient seal at the -junc- (part 11. interior circumferential rib 13 for securing the device -to the beaded neck of -areceptacle ofa common type 2,969,167 Patented Jan. 24, 1961 Fig. "10 is a cross section of this alternative form as seen in Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a cross section of the same except that the parts are shown in the open relation;

Fig. 12 is an end view of the same, partly in cross section;

Fig. I 13 is a plan view of the same in its open condition;

Fig. 14 is a top plan view to show another alternative form of the invention;

Fig. 15 is an end elevation thereof, partly'in section;

Fig. 16 illustrates a top plan view of still another emj nt ;Fig. 17--isa side elevational view thereof; and

Fig. 18 is a cross section thereof taken on the line is-is of i Fig. 16.

Broadly regarded the invention, in one aspect, com- .prehends-the provision of a combined valve-and dispenser for a receptacle whereby fluent materials may be poured 20.

tegrally therewith, and a movable part which includes adispensing opening, e.g. a nozzle. The parts are slidably interconnected by means ofa dovetail joint permitting translational movement of the movable part whereby -the dispensing opening therein may be brought into register-with a passage in-the fixed part in fluid com- ;munication with the interior of the receptacle. Thus, flow may occur while reverse movement will interrupt thefiow. In another aspect the invention device includes stopsmeans for insuring proper positioning of the parts In yet another aspect the invention tion of the parts to avoid leakage. In still another aspect operation-of the valve.

Turning now to the drawings I have shown, Figs. 1 to 8, a'preferred form which the invention may assume in practice comprising a fixed part 10 anda movable The fixed part 10 includes a skirt 12 andan such as those used for fuel for pyrophoric cigarette lighters. Sometimes an inner hollow conical portion'1'4 is included and is adapted to fit'snugly in the neck of the receptacle to supplement the sealing action. However, the parts 12, 13 and 14 form no part of the invention per seas other modes of attaching the-device -to,or integrating the same with the receptacle are possible. -In the case of a.devic e provided with a skirt as just described for forcible placement on the neck of a receptacle certain additional advantages follow and will be'elaborated upon hereinafter.

Arranged to form a'protruding portion of the: part 10 is an elongated guide 21 in the form of a male dovetail member including longitudinally extending ribs 22-22. The guide 21. is provided with lateral wall portions-23- -23 and end wall portions 24 and 25 defining a pocket 26 for a purpose to be explained. p

Adapted to be engaged over the guide 21-for sliding relation therewith is the slidable member ll which includes a body 30 having a top wall 31, sidewalls 32-32 and end walls 3333. Each of the walls 3232 is provided on its interior with a rib 34 adapted to engage resiliently under the ribs 22-22. These several walls and the ribs 34 define what is sometimes herein referred to as afemale dovetail element. It will be noted that the upper face of each'of theribs 34is-ir1clined complemen- "tarily' to an inclined face of the associated rib 22 so that, in'eiietit,"theseserve to interconnectin the manner (it a dovetail as commonly understood. It will be recognized that the slidable connection between the movable and fixed parts of the device is maintained by the interlocking character of the two dovetail elements. Moreover, by forming the sliding joint of a dovetail character, the inclination of the abutting inclined faces of the ribs 34 and 22 may be so arranged and dimensioned as to exert a downward force upon the movable member to supplement the fluid seal between the fixed and movable parts of the device. At this juncture it is to be noted that, in order to allow assembly of the parts 11 and 21 an elastomer, such as polyethylene, is employed. Thus the part 11 may, upon initial assembly, be forced over the guide 21 and thereafter retained in the working relation illustrated. Additionally, many plastic compositions, such as polyethylene, possess a waxy surface thereby facilitating relative sliding movement of the two parts notwithstanding the snug degree of engagement dictated by the function of the parts. Such sliding movement is over a distance limited by abutment of a wall 33 with the guide 21 (Fig. 7).

In practice it has been found that the invention device has been preferred in the exemplificative embodiment namely, including the skirt 12 for adaptation to the neck of a receptacle. When so employed the skirt is made to be a tight fit over the neck and, as so arranged, the skirt is allowed to stretch somewhat. Consequently the wall portions defining the pocket 26 are deformed outwardly and, in particular, the ribs 22-22 are forced outwardly into tight engagement with the ribs 34-34 thus supplementing the retention of the movable part 11.

Guide 21 is provided with a passage 41 affording communication with the interior of the receptacle to which the device is attached and is preferably provided with an annular pad 42 circumscribing the passage and which, being in forcible abutment with the wall 31, serves to seal the opening 4 1 when the device is in its on and oif positions. Inasmuch as the inclined, contacting faces of the ribs 22-22 and 34-34 are such as to draw the wall 31 into right relation with the pad 42 a relatively high pressure per unit area is achieved and leakage of fluids, even those having extremely low viscosity such as naphtha, simply and reliably precluded.

One of the paramount advantages of my invention resides in that function of the pad 42 whereby it is effective to prevent leakage in both the on and off positions of the movable part 11. Moreover, it is apparent that if the diameter of the dispensing opening, e.g. the bore of the nozzle 3h, measured at the plane of abutment with the pad is greater than the radial width of the pad, i.e. the distance from the periphery of the bore 41 to the outer periphery there is a possibility of leakage when the movable part is in a certain position. I avoid this condition by making such radial distance greater than the said diameter of the dispensing opening but not so large as to detract from the prime consideration namely, the obtaining of high pressure per unit area.

In order to circumvent any tendency of the member 11 to cock about the relatively small bearing zone presented by the upper surface of the pad 42 I prefer to incorporate a second pad 44 having the same elevation as the pad 42 and offset laterally therefrom at the extreme end of the guide 31. Alternatively the upper surface of the guide 21 may, in those cases where the fluid material is of comparatively high viscosity, be made uniformly flat or may be provided with an elongated, rectangular pad.

Any suitable pouring means may be provided on the movable valve part. For example, the same may be a simple opening therein or may, as shown be a nozzle 39 projecting from the upper surface of the member 11 and having a bore 40 which is adapted, in the on position to register with the bore 41 and, in the off position, moved out of register, as will be apparent. While the "nozzle 39 may constitute a handle for shifting the movable part 11 it will be understood that any other means may be employed for that purpose, i.e. when the nozzle is omitted a suitable projection may be provided for manipulation.

In a device in accordance with this invention it is to be expected that members of the consuming public may misapprehend the operation of the device and, instead of thrusting the movable part in the direction of the guide, attempt to obtain register of the bores 40 and 41 by a false movement perpendicularly to the intended direction. Since such careless action will, in many cases, dislodge the movable member 11 it is preferred to provide a recess 51 into which the member may be received over its stroke. One end of the recess may be closed, as at 52 and the other end left open. Thus, the user is given a visual indication of the manner in which the movable spout part is to be manipulated between its two positions and the likelihood of erroneous use, as noted above, is virtually eliminated. Although the end wall 52 is redundant with respect to the right hand wall (Fig. 7) of the guide 21 it is preferred that the same be included in order to further the safeguard inherent in the recess 51 in the manner just described.

By recessing the part 30 in the recess 51 any tendency of the walls 32-32 to diverge is substantially counteracted, thereby materially supplementing the inter-engagement of the ribs 22-22 and 34-34 and the consequent sealing force between the fixed and movable parts of the device. For clarity in the drawings a working clearance is shown between the walls 32-32 and the adjacent side walls of the recess 51. Such clearance need be only suflicient to permit relatively effortless shifting of the movable part 11 and yet not so great as to allow divergence of the walls 32-32 which, in turn, might result in losing the benefit of the sealing force of the dovetail type of joint.

From the foregoing it will be evident that when one or the other of the two parts of the device are made of inherently resilient material, e.g., polyethylene initial assembly is easily accomplished by forcing the two into engagement by momentary distortion of the resilient part whereafter engagement is maintained in the manner illustrated. Obviously, and preferably, both parts may comprise resilient material. The instant concept is ideally adapted to assembly by high speed automatic machinery since the same requires only ordinary orientation of the parts in suitable guide channels and application of thrust to the movable part.

An alternative embodiment of the invention is shown in Figs. 9 to 13 wherein the movable part 11a is arranged for sliding movement in a dovetail groove. In principle the function is as described for the primary embodiment.

Thus the part 11a is provided with a rectangular base 30a having inclined lateral faces 60-60 adapted. to be snugly received in complemental faces 61-61 on the inner walls of upstanding ribs 62-62 of the fixed part 10a. In order to fix the stroke of the movable part between on and off positions the surfaces 61-61 are terminated at each end by stops 63-63. Desired reinforcement of the ribs 62-62 may be realized in any usual fashion, e.g. by inclusion of buttresses 65.

In this form of the invention supplementation of the sealing action in the region of the protuberance, in the off position has been accomplished by a slightly inclined ramp 70 underlying the lower surface of the movable part 11a. The combined action of the dovetail joint, the ramp 70 and the protuberance 42a results in a warping of the base 30a in a manner to increase the seal at the protuberance.

In both forms of the invention the movable part may be easily shifted by using the nozzle 39 or 39a as a handle. However, as alluded to hereinabove, such nozzle may be eliminated in the case of pulverulent materials which are usually best dispensed through a simple aperture.

'Asmentioned above the recess 51 is intended 'to'convey to the user that 'shifting'of the part 11 is" in the direction 'ofthe lateral walls of the'recess. Other modes of accomplishing the desired result are possible. In Figs. 14 to 18 two alternatives aredepicted. V

For example, in Figs. 14 and 15 I have 'shownthe use of restraining abutments 81 in the form of a plurality of upstanding projections adapted to bear lightly on the exterior of the walls 32-32 of the movable part 11 whereby to resist any tendency of the user to shiftthe same transversely of its proper-direction. Preferably the contacting surfaces of the abutments are provided with reduced bearing areas, e.g. in the form of semi-cylinders '82. Moreover the projectionsfiifmay contribute to the fit between the mating dovetail parts by reducing any tendency to diverge-which -the-walls-32-32 may exhibit.

Another'expedient for accomplishing the same purpose is shown in Figs. 16 to 18. In this case a portion of the movable member body"Wis-circumscribed by a U-shaped wal1'86 adapted, on'at least its lateral walls 8737 to fit snugly, but not in a binding manner, against the body '30. The end walls?) 'not'only rigidifies the lateral walls 8787 but also acts'as an end stop to limit closing movement of the-valve. "In this example the recess"-51 has been omitted.

While I have shown certain embodiments of my invention, itwill be understood, of course, that I do not'wish to be limited thereto since many modifications may be made and I, therefore, contemplate by the appended claims to cover any such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim:

1. A two-part valve and pouring device for dispensing fluent material from a receptacle comprising: a fixed part having a portion for incorporating the device with the receptacle and an outer surface having a dovetail element upstanding therefrom: a movable part translationally slidable with respect to said fixed part between on and off positions having an inverted box-like base open at the bottom and having opposed lateral walls and an upper, interior face, said lateral walls being each provided interiorly with a rib member complementary to and engaged with said dovetail element; said members and element providing the slidable connection between said parts; respective abuttable means on said parts for limiting the stroke between said on and off positions; said dovetail element having an upper face and said upper interior face of the movable part being contiguous thereto to constitute a fluid-sealing plane between the parts; said abutting faces being in sliding contact in all operative positions of the device to provide a fluid seal in both said on and off positions; said fixed part having a passage providing fluid communication between the exterior thereof and the said abutting face thereof; said movable part having a passage providing fluid communication from the said abutting face thereof to an exterior surface thereof for exit of fluid from the device, said passages being moved into and out of register at said fluid-sealing plane corresponding to said on and off positions respectively; at least one of said parts comprising resilient, deformable material whereby said movable part base may, upon initial assembly of said parts, be forced over said dovetail element by momentary deformation of the parts and the slidable relation of the parts thereafter permanently maintained, the sloping complementary faces of the dovetail elements having relative dimensions such that, when coacting with the resiliency of the material, the parts are drawn snugly together to provide the fluid-tight joint at said sealing plane, the said abutting face of said fixed part being of substantially lesser areal extent than the opposed abutting face in a region surrounding the termination of the respective passage thereat to provide a concentration of sealing force at said sealing plane; said outer surface of the fixed part being provided'with a recess including vertical side walls contiguous to the exterior of the lateral walls of in said lesser face is constituted as a first pad on the dovetail element circumjacent the registering end of the passage in said fixed part, and a second pad, is provided thereon spaced apart from said first pad to prevent cocking of the movable part as the same is shifted between said on and off positions.

4. A two-part valve and pouring device for dispensing fluent'material from a receptacle comprising: a fixed part having a portion for incorporating the device with the receptacle and an outer surface; a recess transversely of said surface having a horizontal floor and vertical side walls; a male dovetail element upstanding from said floor; a movable part adapted for shifting translationally relative to said fixed part, said movable part having depending lateral walls positioned on opposite sides of 'said dovetail element and ribs interengaged with said :element to enable said shifting movement, said lateral walls being contiguous to said side walls of the recess to prevent deflection of said lateral walls; said element and base having respective surfaces contiguous in all operative positions of said parts to provide a fluid-sealing plane therebetween; said fixed part having a passage from the exterior thereof to said plane; said movable part having a passage extending from said plane to the exterior thereof; said passages being adapted to be brought into and out of register at said plane corresponding to on and off positions of the device.

5. A two-part valve and pouring device for dispensing fluent material from a receptacle comprising: a fixed part having a portion for incorporating the device with the receptacle and an outer surface; a male, substantially parallelepipedic element having longitudinal ribs upstanding from said outer surface; a movable part adapted for translational shifting relative to said element, said movable part having depending lateral walls positioned on opposite faces of said element and ribs interengaged with said first ribs to enable said shifting movement and to retain the movable part in operative relation with said element, said element and movable part having respective surfaces contiguous in all operative positions of said parts to provide a fluid-sealing plane therebetween; said fixed part having a passage from the exterior thereof to said plane; said movable part having a passage extending from said plane to the exterior thereof, said passages being adapted to be brought into and out of register at said plane corresponding to on and o positions of the device, abutment means upstanding from said outer surface bearing on said lateral walls to maintain the interengagement of said ribs and dovetail element, said parts comprising resilient material whereby said movable part may be engaged over said element and between said abutment means upon initial assembly of said parts.

6. A two-part valve and pouring device for dispensing fluent material from a receptacle comprising: a fixed part having a portion for incorporating the device with the receptacle and an outer surface; a male, substantially parallelepipedic element upstanding from said outer surface having longitudinal ribs; a movable part adapted for translational shifting relative to said element, said movable part having an inverted box-like base including a top wall and two pairs of opposed side walls, one pair of said side walls having ribs interengaged with said first ribs to enable said shifting and to retain the movable part in operative relation with said element, a top surface of said plane to the exterior thereof, said passages being adapted, upon shifting of said movable part, to be brought into and out of register at said plane corresponding to on and Off positions of the device, said parts com prising resilient material whereby said movable part may be engaged with a snap action over said element upon initial assembly of said parts.

7. A two-part valve and pouring device for dispensing fluent material from a receptacle comprising: a fixed part having a portion for incorporating the device with the receptacle and an outer surface; a male, substantially parallelepipedic element upstanding from said outer surface having longitudinal ribs; a movable part adapted for translational shifting relative to said element, said movable part having an inverted box-like base including a top wall and two pairs of opposed side walls, one pair of said side walls having ribs interengaged with said first ribs to enable said shifting and to retain the movable part in operative relation with said element, a top surface of said element and the interior surface of said top wall being adjacent in all operative positions of said parts, said fixed part having a passage from the exterior thereof to said plane; said movable part having a passage extending from said plane to the exterior thereof, said passages being adapted, upon shifting of said movable part, to be brought into and out of register at said plane corresponding to on and off positions of the device, at least one of said adjacent surfaces being provided with a pad circumscribing the bore through the associated part to provide a concentrated fluid sealing plane between said parts, said parts comprising resilient material whereby said movable part may be engaged with a snap action over said element upon initial assembly of said parts.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,042,050 Stichter Oct. 22, 1912 1,975,481 Schneible Oct. 2, 1934 2,061,796 Des Roches Nov. 24, 1936 2,123,643 Wilson July 12, 1938 2,496,439 Bumber Feb. 7, 1950 2,624,494 Gerin Jan. 6, 1953 2,762,537 Reinhardt Sept. 11, 1956 2,805,005 Kappler Sept. 3, 1957 2,866,580 NiSSen Dec. 30, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 495,657 Italy June 18, 1954 

